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A Visual Feast

It is always exciting to open the door and go out into the garden for the first time on any day. - Marion Cran

In spite of chilly temperatures and a bout of sleet this morning, the garden is a visual feast of colors and texture. A thousand shades of green grace the trees as new leaves emerge each day while frequent rain has transformed the grass into an emerald carpet. Every day a new flower opens and lays its color and form against the growing tapestry of garden and woodland. Late spring, perhaps like no other season, is a study of contrasts in the garden.

Some plants are quiet and delicate, with color-kissed blossoms floating among clouds of feathery foliage.

Siberian iris ‘Strawberry Social’

Geranium ‘Joan Baker’

Beauty bush (Kolkwitzia)

Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Album’

Viburnum ‘Shasta’

Geranium maculatum ‘Espresso’

Camassia leichtlinii caerulea and forget-me-nots

Variegated Weigela

Kerria picta

Lower garden in May

Other plants are bold and vibrant, with strong shapes and colors in flower and leaf, or both, from the lollipops of Allium to the dangling hearts of Lamprocapnos spectabilis.

The steps in May

Hillside in May

Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’

View from the hill

Clematis ‘Asao’ buds opening

Clematis ‘Asao’

Azalea by the front gate

Aquilegia vulgaris ‘William Guinness’

Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ and Euphorbia griffithii

Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ with extra floret

Allium, Euphorbia griffithii, Spirea

Herb circle in May

The elusive wood thrush has returned and begins each morning with its distinctive fluted song that continues from dawn to dusk. (You can listen to its song in The Woodthrush Sings). A pair of mourning doves has appropriated one of my deck planters as a nesting spot; Angel is gently but endlessly curious about them – I won’t plant there until the babies fledge. My garden will be on a large garden tour this June, so I’ve been busy planting and pruning, creating a new pollinator garden (more about that in the next post) and enjoying every moment spent outdoors.

BTW, I drove through the sleet (and snow!) on Sunday on the very long trek from the Midwest to Ricketts Glen SP in NE Pennsylvania. While scouting the park late that afternoon I got caught in again, not one more time but TWICE. (This is the middle of May, for crying out loud.)

Thanks, Kerry! I think I take more photos of the garden in May than any other time – so much to see!

The weather seems to be settling into a more normal pattern, thank goodness. It was bad enough watching sleet fall on the garden in May; I can’t imagine driving in it! If you don’t mind, I would like to link back to your post with the bluebell photos when I write about planting natives in the garden.

Thanks Steve; May is the time when everything starts flowering at once, so this was only a partial look at what’s blooming. Happy spring to you, and may you continue to find beauty everywhere – your photos always amaze me.

It has definitely sprung Frank, though it has been frigid here for the past two days. Hopefully, we won’t dip down to 36º again! All is well here, as the semester is over and I can get back to the garden and the blog 🙂

That’s unusual Bernadette, you are closer to the city than I am so I thought you would be ahead of me. All the rain we’ve had is pushing a lot of growth. And yes, the bloom day meme is pretty cool; I’ve discovered some beautiful garden blogs through it.

Lynn, this is magnificent…and my third attempt to tell you so, so hope it’s a go. 🙂 (WordPress keeps interrupting to have me fill in my data, and I do, but the comment doesn’t upload.???)

I love all the combinations, textures, and colors in your gardens, especially the allium with the euphorbia. The Beauty Bush is stunning, and I love the dicentra. I planted some Gold Heart last year as well, and just love it.

I was thinking how wonderful it would be to tour your garden, then read it’s happening…how I’d love to be among those lucky enough to wander through this paradise you’ve created…ah!

Close to freezing here last night, but everyone made it through, so I’m very relieved.

Now, if by some internet magic all three (or 4?) of my comments suddenly appear, delete as necessary, but know I loved this post THAT much! 🙂 Thank you for the loveliness an have a joyful week.

Third time’s a charm, Kitty. They all showed up but I only got one notification – weird. I had lots of glitches trying to post today too. Anyway, I wish you could be here to tour the garden! I hope to post every week now that I’m out of school for the summer and in the garden every day. There’s lots to do to get ready for the tour but it is a great opportunity to take the garden up a notch too 🙂

Glad you made it through the cold weather – I am sheltering the tender things in the garage and cold frame but anxious to get things planted outside! Angel is happy to be in the garden with me, though – she loves to sit in the sun and watch the world go by. Enjoy your four-legged boys this summer!

I love the quotes, especially the second one. I’m jealous, as usual! I like the idea of late Spring being a time of contrast, and you show how true that is with such gorgeous photos to drool over! I see talk of strange seasons, and we had an early Spring in the PNW, by at least two weeks! But it was beautiful. In New York last week the weather had been very cool and rainy, everyone was complaining about it, and flowers were where we were maybe three weeks ago, or more. And I saw magnolia trees with dead blooms, always unfortunate, but what can you do?
Just keep moving forward, plan new gardens (pollinators! Yes!) and make it all work. And hope for something between perfection and presentability on tour day, right? 😉
Enjoy your baby birds! Love the funny Allium – nature always amazes.

Lynn, that Allium made me laugh, like it had a little hat 🙂 Yes, we have had extremely erratic temperature swings and far more rain than usual here this spring, throwing off all my carefully planned flower combinations last month! Hopefully, things will settle down soon and I can get the pots on the decks planted – everything is under cover right now.
“And hope for something between perfection and presentability on tour day ” – the perfect way to put it! The gardener sees what she didn’t get done but hopefully the visitor only sees the glass half full!

I always enjoy seeing your garden!
We have had a strange spring here in Alberta. My bleeding hearts are blooming at the same time as the tulips and daffodils. At the rate things are going, my flowering season might be over by the middle of June! If I deadhead, maybe a few things will have time to bloom again!

Margie, we’ve had a strange one too – last month, nothing bloomed together like it normally does so it wasn’t very photogenic. The heat waves have pushed early growth and bloom, then the cold snaps knock it back. We had sleet and hail today after a very frigid night – I’m not sure when I will get any tender plants outside! Hope the spring improves for you, thanks for stopping by and commenting.